---
layout: reference
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<div class="box">
  <h2>Getting and Creating Projects</h2>
  <div class="block">
    <p>
    In order to do anything in Git, you have to have a Git repository.  This
    is where Git stores the data for the snapshots you are saving.
    </p>

    <p>
    There are two main ways to get a Git repository.  One way is to simply
    initialize a new one from an existing directory, such as a new project or
    a project new to source control.  The second way is to clone one from a
    public Git repository, as you would do if you wanted a copy or wanted to
    work with someone on a project.  We will cover both of these here.
    </p>

  </div>
</div>

<div class="box">
  <h2>
    <span class="docs">
      <a target="new" href="http://git-scm.com/docs/git-init">docs</a> &nbsp;
      <a target="new" href="http://git-scm.com/book/en/Git-Basics-Getting-a-Git-Repository#Initializing-a-Repository-in-an-Existing-Directory">book</a>
    </span>
    <a name="init">git init</a>
    <span class="desc">initializes a directory as a Git repository</span>
  </h2>

  <div class="block">
    <p>To create a repository from an existing directory of files, you can
    simply run <code>git init</code> in that directory.  For example,
    let's say we have a directory with a few files in it, like this:
    </p>

<pre>
<b>$ cd konnichiwa</b>
<b>$ ls</b>
README   hello.rb
</pre>

    <p>This is a project where we are writing examples of the "Hello World"
    program in every language.  So far, we just have Ruby, but hey, it's
    a start.  To start version controlling this with Git, we can simply
    run <code>git init</code>.
    </p>

<pre>
<b>$ git init</b>
Initialized empty Git repository in /opt/konnichiwa/.git/
</pre>

    <p>Now you can see that there is a <code>.git</code> subdirectory in your
    project.  This is your Git repository where all the data of your
    project snapshots are stored.
    </p>

<pre>
<b>$ ls -a</b>
.        ..       .git     README   hello.rb
</pre>

    <p>Congratulations, you now have a skeleton Git repository and can start
    snapshotting your project.
    </p>

    <p class="nutshell">
    <strong>In a nutshell</strong>, you use <code>git init</code> to make an
    existing directory of content into a new Git repository.  You can do this
    in any directory at any time, completely locally.</p>

  </div>
</div>

<div class="box">
  <h2>
    <span class="docs">
      <a target="new" href="http://git-scm.com/docs/git-clone">docs</a> &nbsp;
      <a target="new" href="http://git-scm.com/book/en/Git-Basics-Getting-a-Git-Repository#Cloning-an-Existing-Repository">book</a>
    </span>
    <a name="clone">git clone</a>
    <span class="desc">copy a git repository so you can add to it</span>
  </h2>
  <div class="block">
    <p>
    If you need to collaborate with someone on a project, or if you want to
    get a copy of a project so you can look at or use the code, you will
    clone it.  You simply run the <code>git clone [url]</code> command with
    the URL of the project you want to copy.
    </p>

<pre>
<b>$ git clone git://github.com/schacon/simplegit.git</b>
Initialized empty Git repository in /private/tmp/simplegit/.git/
remote: Counting objects: 100, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (86/86), done.
remote: Total 100 (delta 35), reused 0 (delta 0)
Receiving objects: 100% (100/100), 9.51 KiB, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (35/35), done.
<b>$ cd simplegit/</b>
<b>$ ls</b>
README   Rakefile <span class="blue">lib</span>
</pre>

    <p>
    This will copy the entire history of that project so you have it locally
    and it will give you a working directory of the main branch of that project
    so you can look at the code or start editing it.  If you change into the
    new directory, you can see the <code>.git</code> subdirectory - that is
    where all the project data is.
    </p>

<pre>
<b>$ ls -a</b>
.        ..       <span class="blue">.git</span>     README   Rakefile <span class="blue">lib</span>
<b>$ cd .git</b>
<b>$ ls</b>
HEAD        description <span class="blue">info</span>        packed-refs
<span class="blue">branches    hooks       logs        refs</span>
config      index       <span class="blue">objects</span>
</pre>

    <p>
    By default, Git will create a directory that is the same name as the
    project in the URL you give it - basically whatever is after the last slash
    of the URL.  If you want something different, you can just put it at the
    end of the command, after the URL.
    </p>

    <p class="nutshell">
    <strong>In a nutshell</strong>, you use <code>git clone</code> to get a
    local copy of a Git repository so you can look at it or start modifying
    it.</p>

  </div>
</div>

<p><a class="page-button next-page" href="/basic">On to Basic Snapshotting &#187;</a></p>
